Best Uses for a Mirror

Expand your space with this reflective item

Redwood Falls Gazette

Writer

Posted Mar. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 11, 2013 at 10:23 AM

Posted Mar. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 11, 2013 at 10:23 AM

Mirrors are not just looking glasses or a place to check your hair before you leave the house. They are design features added for both form and function. Discover the best uses for a mirror and open your mind to new home decorating possibilities.

Mirrors create the illusion of space. In a small area, a mirror will open up the space. The eye is tricked into believing that the mirror is in fact a window or opening that creates a place for your eyes to focus farther off in the distance. This experience gives you the feeling that the room is actually much larger, according to Apartment Therapy. Feel free to select different shapes, colors or sizes for interesting mirror groupings, or find an amazing large mirror that can serve as a single statement piece. However you use mirrors, that small room will seem to grow after the mirror’s placement.

Mirrors add light to a room. If you have a dim room with little natural light, mirrors are the solution. Nothing gives a small, dark space instant sparkle and light like a mirror. Properly placed to bounce light from a distant or small source, a mirror will reflect light all around the room. The extra light brightens any dark corner, and the mirror itself will glow brilliantly.

Mirrors are great Feng Shui. The art of Feng Shui is about balance, harmony and energy. Mirrors serve more than one purpose in this sense. Mirrors symbolize the water element of fluidity and as such offer a sensation of tranquility and refreshment. In terms of Feng Shui, mirrors also draw in and focus energy, or Ch'i, according to the Western School of Feng Shui. With appropriate placement, mirrors can shift the flow of Ch'i to an optimal pattern and unblock any dead, energy-robbing spaces. Mirrors placed in the eastern side of the home offer positivity to family and health. Southeastern mirrors encourage wealth and abundance. For a boost to career and life path, place mirrors in the northern sectors of a home or room.